The Little General sacked in Brooklyn

One again, the Christmas season hasn’t been kind to former Spurs point guard Avery Johnson. About two decades after he was cut by the Denver Nuggets on Christmas eve, Johnson was fired on Thursday from his post as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

Johnson’s ouster comes less than a month after he was named NBA Coach of the Month. The Nets fell apart in the weeks after that honor, losing 10 or 13 games to fall 6 1/2 games behind rival New York in the Atlantic Division.

Brooklyn’s recent collapse marred what had been a season of promise for the Nets, who despite missing out on the Dwight Howard sweepstakes were able to assemble a roster laden — at least on paper — with talent. But it obviously has yet to mesh with both Williams and Joe Johnson, among others, performing well below expectation.

Johnson, the starting point guard on San Antonio’s first championship team in 1998-99, leaves the Nets with a 60-116 record in two-plus seasons. He went 194-70 in three-plus seasons with Dallas before that.

At least one person in the Johnson household isn’t taking the news well. Tweeted his son Avery Johnson Jr.: